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Salient: Victoria University Students' Paper. Vol. 25, No. 3. 1962.

Twelfth Night

Twelfth Night

None, however, could quibble about the choice of Twelfth Night, surely one of the most delightful, and stageworthy comedies of the Shakespearean canon. Judged on its own terms (those of the Establishment) the production was quite acceptable. It was straightforward, without gimmicks, and showed some vitality and a good sense of timing.

The set was a little too like a birthday cake, and the actors, in costumes more representative of seventeenth century France than of Elizabethan England, were even more over-dressed than the stage. There is some excuse for such splendour, however, in such a sunny comedy and there was no sense of gaudiness. The total visual effect was pleasantly reminiscent of a Poussin landscape.

Robert Helpmann, the producer, made good use of the set, He alternated between beautifully-balanced tableaux for the Cesario—Olivia—Orsino scenes and a lively fluidity in the clowning scenes. The actions of Sir Toby, Sir Andrew, and Fabian in Malvolio's letter scene were particularly amusing, and this scene was consequently one of the highlights of the night.

On the debit side it is difficult to understand Helpmann's reversal of the first two scenes. Shakespeare has been careful to set the play's tone with the Duke's opening speech ("If music be the food of love ..."), and to replace it with the storm scene gives a totally wrong impression.

As a whole the production smacked of the commonplace, but this is probably better than the forced striving for originality which is reported to be marring English productions of Shakespeare.

It was in Twelfth Night that many of the actors appeared at their best. John Merivale, the company's "leading man," made a delightful Sir Andrew Aguecheek (but why the lisp?), and Frank Middlemass a splendidly bucolic Sir Toby Belch. (It was Merivale, however, who did the belching, and what a resonant, connoisseur's blurp it was!). Together, these two provided some of the best scenes of the play.

Acting honours of the night go, however, to Basil Henson, whose Malvolio lacked some haughtiness in his first scene, but after that could scarcely be faulted. His approach to the part was a sympathetic one which brought out the pathos as well as the ridiculousness of this character, and presented a picture of Malvolio which, I am sure, will colour my reaction whenever I re-read the play.

Sally Home as Olivia combined beauty with considerable talent, and her maid, Maria, was well played by Patricia Raine. Maria's combination of naivety and cunning, and her dual relationships to her mistress and the drunken knights was skilfully played. Congratulations must also go to Paul Harris (Orsino) if only because he managed to up-stage Miss Leigh on two separate occasions.

Disappointment of the performance was Vivien Leigh, the muchheralded "star." That she drummed out her lines in a deadly monotone is all the more unfortunate because she possesses a splendid voice. In the same way, her natural gracefulness of movement was never related to the character she was meant to portray. One was left with the impression of unrealised potentialities—physical advantages without the technique to use them.

Finally, mention must be made of Mark Kingston, as Feste, the clown. This was a lesson Miss Leigh could note, of how a voice should be used. Even as a singer, Mr Kingston was quite successful despite a tendency to cut short the last note of a phrase, thus spoiling the delicate melodic lines. I do not know what version of the "O Mistress Mine" melody he used, but it fitted the words less perfectly than that from Morley's First Book of Consort Lessons, standardised by Alfred Deller.

In the background effective use was made of "Callino Castore Me," and another Elizabethan melody which was cleverly used as a leitmotiv for Orsino and his court. This was an object lesson for local producers in the use of incidental music.